Continental Philosophy 6- What is Nihilism? Friedrich Nietzsche
Nov 5, 2021
Friedrich Nietzsche, a philosopher who explains active and passive nihilism. Topics include Nietzsche's explanation of nihilism's influence on his concepts like slave-morality, repudiation of Christianity, and the will-to-power. Also discussed is the connection between nihilism and reality, the death of god, and nihilism's implications on the human condition.
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Nihilism As An Ontological Claim
- Nietzsche treats nihilism as an ontological claim that projects 'nothingness' onto reality rather than a mere moral mood.
- He links nihilism to a mistaken eternalist view that denies becoming and temporal change.
Eternity Turns Into Nothingness
- Nietzsche argues the belief in the eternal precludes becoming, making the eternal itself nihilistic.
- Thus the Christian God as eternal becomes 'nothingness' in Nietzsche's diagnosis.
Madman In The Marketplace
- The 'death of God' scene in The Gay Science dramatizes human disorientation after losing divine grounding.
- Nietzsche frames this as a lament for the rupture in our self-understanding, not merely an ontological claim.